The White Elephant in the Room Playground

[Equitial]

Mewtwo's room looked exactly as their current cave chamber did, complete with a throne-like stone underneath a warm glow of light sunstone. Mewtwo didn't sleep last night. They usually liked to do so, though it usually wasn't necessary for their wellbeing. Instead, they paced, occasionally leaving their room to push at the barrier around the mountain. They still couldn't get out.

Well, at least now he knew what whoever brought him here wanted. Find the killers. He twitched his tail. Part of him loathed the idea of playing along with his captors. Like a lab rat, like a trained pet, an animal -- not a being with as much worth as any being, because he was person, not a tool. Lowly, Mewtwo growled, trying to dispel memories. He was his own Pokemon now.

He glared into the crowd of gathered Pokemon. Let's just get this over with, he projected. He merely wanted to return to his own life. He didn't even care about finding the person responsible for this inconvenience; he would deal with that after he was free.

They were all supposed to find the killer of the human and the Squirtle. No point squabbling about inconsequential manners. Mewtwo waved his wave as he poked at the auras of the Delphox and unknown Mew. After they all left, they could all forget about each other.

He relayed memories of him leaving his room to look at the barrier around the mountain. He didn't return to this room, though he didn't see a possible culprit. He doubted anyone else would have information this night at least, and also did not believe the wrongdoers would reveal themselves.

Still, some of the beings here caused this trouble. Might as well try to find them. He suggested investigating Palkia first. Even if the Legendary didn't kill any mortals, maybe Mewtwo could leave this place if their space-time tampering was disrupted.

 

[IFBench]

Gen started to calm down a little, his breathing slowing down. Deep breaths, in and out. In and out.

"T-thanks," he said.

 

[Fusion]

Lee's room was nothing but darkness. Dark, cool, comforting... Just like home. Whenever he was gifted his gift, he didn't know, or care for all that matter. And frankly, he didn't seem all that interested on waiting to see what it was. It was a shame that he was physically unable to open it. Lee would've been pissed if he wasn't still groggy and tired.

All of the commotion didn't help wake him up either, only irritated him more. He walked out of someone's shadow, probably that Palkia that just arrived, and let out a yawn. Groups were annoying, but at least someone was panicking. A bit of normalcy did wonders.

"The hell is everyone going on about?" Lee growled, looking at everyone else. Everyone was here, plus one giant space god, minus one turtle. "Where's that kid? Uh... Squirt? Special Agent-- no I'm not calling him that."

It took Lee a moment to piece through everything that was being said. He was here to solve a murder, one of the murders were among them, and Squirt was hiding. To hell with him being trained in survival, that runt would get himself killed at this rate. It especially wasn't safe with that legend or the cat with an entire forest stuck up his ass, but Lee wasn't suspicious of anyone yet. Killers don't always act like killers, so frankly anyone could be the culprit.

"With all of you standing around like nothing's wrong and--" Lee glanced at Darkwhite and Jesse. "--whatever the hell those two are doing, none of you know where that runt went?" Lee rolled his eyes. He started his search, lifting furniture, and other people if he had to, while keeping both ears open for what everyone would be saying.

 

[DawningWinds]

Nilam's room had been very grey. Not because that's what they preferred, though- Nilam liked loud, bright colors. But they'd grown very accustomed to being carried in a bag containing grey things, and they'd grown used to not being able to make their own decisions to not care that the room didn't suit their tastes. They almost preferred it that way- doing exactly what was expected of them as a RotoPhone

"Good morning!" Nilam announced, floating from their room. They'd returned to their usual phone before heading to room, of course, not wanting to risk it being damaged by the storm. Macro Cosmos's phone were water resistant, they hadn't been too sure it would resist water all night. As they scanned the room, they noticed one entity missing. "Where's Squirt?"

 

[windskull]

"Gone," blue reported, flicking his tail over to the hat and scarf. "Probably dead. What's not clear though is if he was murdered-" he gave the other Pokemon a hard look "-or if this was an unfortunate accident. Regardless, I suggest we start investigating immediately." Oh how he wished Yellow was here. She was the one that dealt with criminal masterminds, not him.

 

[Namohysip]

"I want her safe more than I want anythin' else. I don't know what yer word is worth, and I got no power over you, but I'm askin' ya... don't bring my daughter to harm. She's worth a dozen of me."

"Hmmmmmmm..." Darkwhite stared at Jesse, eyes narrowed, and then pulled back with a shrug. "She likes to fight so I'm gonna fight her. Simple! If you think that's harming, then you're not Pokemon enough yet."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Jesse almost reflexively spat up the same tired arguments he'd been using for years, and instead bit his tongue.

"Seems I never will be," he said, drily. "Very well. So long at battles are all it is." At least it sounded like Brisa was handling herself. Of course she was. Really, he ought to be worried about Brisa tearing this hazy mew's throat out.

He turned his attention back to the more pressing matter of solving murders.

"Alright. If that fuckin' Committee interjects with one more braindead fuckin' message I'm gonna blast that goddamn device to smithereens. Now, let's see if anyone can find out anythin' concrete so we're not just operatin' on pure fuckin' guesswork. We don't know all the rules yet, so I'm not rulin' it out entirely that Squirt is still fuckin' breathin', but I don't like the kid's chances. Any bright ideas, any real evidence, anythin' at all? I'm all ears."

As he spoke, Jesse began patrolling the environs of the superpositional location they shared, searching for something they'd missed.

 

[DawningWinds]

"Gone," blue reported, flicking his tail over to the hat and scarf. "Probably dead. What's not clear though is if he was murdered-" he gave the other Pokemon a hard look "-or if this was an unfortunate accident. Regardless, I suggest we start investigating immediately." Oh how he wished Yellow was here. She was the one that dealt with criminal masterminds, not him.

"Murdered?" Nilam echoed. If someone had murdered Squirt... Oh god, someone might've murdered a child. Squirt might be dead. Gone. Permanently. What kind of monster would do such a thing?

If such a creature was here, they had to be found and stopped immediately. Had to be brought to justice. But who? Who would commit such an atrocity as killing a Squirt? On purpose? And there was a good chance that they also killed Santa. Santa, who'd probably done less to them than Squirt. Which said a lot. Oh. Oh no, Nilam couldn't believe they'd missed that fact when they got here. Someone killed Squirt and Santa. They couldn't believe it. Nobody... nobody here really seemed like they would do that.

 

[Dragonfree]

Everything about this was strange. Mia had appeared on the mountain and could not remember how she had gotten there; she had a memory of packing a suitcase, but why would she do that? Something was changing her brain, same as it had apparently changed all the others. But according to everything she knew that should be impossible. Known Psychic Pokémon could do certain things but not this. An undiscovered, more powerful Psychic Pokémon...?

...One of the Pokémon claimed to be Mewtwo. But he looked like Mewtwo looked on the movie posters. And those were made by character designers and CGI artists, not based on a real creature. This one must have been based on the posters, not the other way around. Maybe a Ditto had transformed into a movie poster. Something similar must be going on with the one who claimed to be Palkia. Theoretically, the committee also claimed a different Palkia was responsible for warping spacetime around the mountain. But even if a Palkia existed, the odds it actually looked like artists had interpreted it were so small they might as well be zero.

The place was fascinating. The spacial distortion allowed her to imagine different stores and go to them. She thought of a butcher's shop, walked a few steps, and was there. They didn't want any money either. That was weird. How would the store stay open, if no one had to pay for it? Why would they open it in the first place, if they would get no money? Did giving people meat and getting nothing in return make them happy? Why?

She asked for several raw cuts, then imagined a meat thermometer store, then returned to the cabin to cook the meat to exactly 63°C.

She didn't pay too much attention to the others, who were much less interesting than the mountain. She had a good night's sleep in her room. The next morning, the Squirtle had been murdered, apparently for unwrapping a present before Christmas.

Mia had had a lot of problems with the concept of Christmas; Dave had assured her they were all entirely valid and accurate, but people did Christmas anyway because they wanted an excuse to give each other presents. That was something Mia could buy. She'd even, apparently, brought a present here, though there was no reason she would do that and she didn't know what the present even was. But something about this, about the present she'd gotten, about the murders, about the committee, about the restrictions, was bringing back another strange memory. This was... a game. A game that Dave had told her about, where someone got killed in the night and then everyone tried to find out who killed them during the day. He'd been in one, and he'd been transported to a world that made no sense with a lot of other people.

How had Dave told her that? She remembered it but also didn't remember having remembered it before. It was another memory that wasn't. So Dave hadn't really told her. But that didn't matter, not really. The people who'd arranged to make her remember these things were probably the same people who'd put them here. They wanted her to remember the game, so she could play it.

This was interesting.

 

[Tanuki]

“Welcome to this year’s emergency holiday bonanza! We are excited to announce that we have indeed obtained the rights to celebrate Taco Tuesday! Please consume responsibly, and wish Squirt a Merry Christmas!”

 

[Tanuki]

“Please do not forget to find your bingo cards! We’ve hidden dozens throughout the resort and will host bingo night every night! To avoid confusion, any fraudulent cards will temporarily burn their subject alive if the subject attempts to submit one. Do not worry, though, as it only functions by overriding the central nervous system. We are proud to announce that this anti-piracy measure is officially seventy-five percent cruelty free!

“If, however, you aren’t the type that enjoys searching for bingo cards, you may purchase some from the store!” There was no bingo card store that anybody could see.

 

[Namohysip]

"Say, what would happen if we catapulted the couch?" Darkwhite asked, prodding at the cushions.

 

[Tanuki]

The couch was soft, extremely so. Darkwhite’s paw sunk into it like a warm pile of snow. Yet, beneath one cushion, something of a rectangle felt stiff as plastic.

 

[Namohysip]

"Eh?" Darkwhite prodded a little more, then tried to pull at whatever was inside.

 

[Tanuki]

Outside came a sleek, white Nintendo Wii, two wireless controllers attached to it and its sensor bar! It wasn’t plugged into any power source, but an led light next to a power symbol glowed. An hdmi cable connected to nothing came out from under it, bringing along a laminated bingo card.

 

[Namohysip]

"I think this tofu got too dry and fossilized," Darkwhite announced, waving the rectangle in the air. "And moldy!"

 

[Fusion]

Lee continued his search in silence, turns out everyone else spoke as he suspected them to. Aside from that announcer being. Taco's sounded nice but whatever that bingo card nonsense was sounded more dangerous than should have been allowed in a resort. Funnily enough, he found one anyway. It was mostly black, and the font was also black so you couldn't see shit on it. Obviously Lee kept it.

"I think this tofu got too dry and fossilized," Darkwhite announced, waving the rectangle in the air. "And moldy!"

"I don't think that strange brick is tofu, it's probably another one of those consoles that kid was playing with," Lee said, leaning on the back of the sofa. "Speaking of, he's still missing. Has anybody at least seen some blood or something? A sign of a fight? Anything?"

 

[Persephone]

Sub-objective: Locate Object_BingoCard

[X] Mobile Evasive Maneuvers

Unit001_101110110 telekinetically lifted the present it was hiding behind and kept beside it while moving. This allowed it to maintain cover while scouting the area for Object_BingoCard. She eventually found a small rectangle with circuits making curious patterns on the back. This was probably an Object_BingoCard. It dropped down, carrying the box with it. Now it needed to observe Object_BingoCard.

 

[IFBench]

Now that Gen was calmed down a bit, he shakily stood up, and looked around the room.

Who could have done this? That Vaporeon seems nice, but they might be faking it...that Delphox is awfully aggressive, but they're probably just concerned...

...I don't actually know anything about anyone here.

Maybe it'd be best for us all to learn about each other, then go from there.

"Who are you all, anyways?" the Oshawott asked.

 

[Tanuki]

"Who are you all, anyways?" the Oshawott asked.

As if voice activated, the Wii suddenly whirred to life. It appeared on the television with what seemed to be measuring the sound of the room. After processing the request, it opened up a channel called “Wii Date,” and asked, “Would you like to get to know each other?”